


Chocolate Chip Cookie Cakes

by The_Alias (Artemis_Day)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bakery and Coffee Shop, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Jane Foster Loves Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 17:30:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20782403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_Day/pseuds/The_Alias
Summary: Five times Jane walked into the bakery, and one time Bucky left with her.





	Chocolate Chip Cookie Cakes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019. Square K4: Bakery AU

The first time Bucky saw her in the bakery, she was breaking up with her boyfriend.

Or rather,  _ he _ was breaking up with  _ her _ .  


Bucky was on cleaning duty that day. He knew the rules. Keep the floors and tables spotless or Mr. Phillips would have his head (and paycheck). With a broom in hand, he weaved around chairs, full and empty alike. Over giggling toddlers and high strung businessmen yelling into their phones, he caught snippets of the conversation.

“I just think… big internship, it could make my career… had a lot of fun together, but…”

“You never said… expect me to just  _ know  _ these things, Don… and then you spring this on me out of nowhere? What about...”

“I wasn’t expecting… Jane, I’m sorry, I don’t… just be friends. It’s better that way.”

By the time the carpets were clean enough to lick, the guy was gone. He left behind a dirty plate with a used napkin on top, and a dejected woman with tear filled eyes. Bucky watched her from across the dining room, wiping his hands on an already greasy apron. He had to go back to the kitchen. The lunch rush was coming and those dishes piled up fast.  


Instead, he stopped at her table. “Sorry to bother you, Miss, but I couldn’t help but overhear… some of that. Just wanted to see if you’re okay.”

She wiped her eyes, they were large and round and made his heart skip a beat. “Thank you, I’m fine.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“No thanks. I’ll be heading out in a few minutes.”

It took her over an hour to leave, not that Bucky was keeping track. He took an order from a party of twelve. One of the high school chess teams had just won a tournament and he got to hear all about it as they waited for their biscuits and paninis. The next time Bucky looked, her table was empty. He never even got her name.  


But that didn’t matter. He’d probably never see her again anyway.

**

The second time Bucky saw her, it was his day off.

Most people would’ve spent it avoiding their place of work like the plague, but Bucky was not most people. Also the bakery had way better Wifi than his shithole of an apartment. He had ten pages of his thesis to revise before Monday and if he had to deal with one more short, just  _ one more _ ...

So there he was, spread out over the second largest table in the back corner. Far from Phillips’ sight and away from regular customers who believed he and the building were homogenous entities and he  _ had _ to help them no matter what.  


He tapped away at his laptop, barely noticing when someone took the table next to him. It wasn’t until he heard a thumped and a curse that he looked up.  


“Oh hey.” He straightened his spine like a soldier, his google doc full of important notes shoved aside. Two months since their first encounter, yet he still remembered those sparkling brown eyes. “Uh… hey, I mean. Good to see you.”

She stared at him. He could tell she didn’t recognize him, but then her eyes widened. “Wait, you work here, don’t you?”

“Only part-time,” Bucky said, finding it hard to look directly at her. Was she always this damn pretty? “Today’s my day off. I’m just getting some work done.”

“Yeah, me too.” Out of her bag came a sleek laptop and a notebook overstuffed with scraps of loose leaf paper. “Sometimes it feels like I’ll be writing my dissertation until the world ends.”

He snorted. “No kidding. What’s your degree?”

“Astrophysics,” she said. “I’m studying wormholes. My thesis involves creating stable tunnels in spacetime to facilitate interstellar travel.”

Bucky blinked. His half-finished paper on social entrepreneurship seemed to mock him out the corner of his eye. “Wow that’s… something.”

She coughed. “Sorry, I’m not great at reading the room and I can be a little… _ passionate _ about things.”

“It’s okay,” Bucky said, edging closer. “That sounds amazing. I’d love to hear more… if you want to tell me, that is.”

He couldn’t be more awkward if he randomly got a boner like some dumbass junior high kid. Somehow, she didn’t laugh in his face. “I’m Jane Foster.”

“Bucky Barnes,” he said, and thank God his voice didn’t crack.

They stayed until closing, Jane illustrating every point she had made and how she made them. After an hour, Bucky walked her through his paper in five minutes. She listened and asked questions like she was actually interested, and maybe she was.  


He got absolutely nothing done and realized on the drive home that he hadn’t gotten her number.  


Oh well. At least he knew her name.

**

The third time she came in, Bucky swore he’d ask her out.

A week after their impromptu semi-study session, she ran in during rush hour. Bucky almost missed her. The lobby was packed with couples and families and singles alike, clawing for the last red velvet cupcake like rabid animals. He was handing a pair of old ladies their lattes and cranberry scones when he spotted her. With her messy hair, open plaid shirt, and red rain boots that would make his more fashion savvy friends howl in agony, she was hard to miss. Her face was glued to her phone, her fingers a blur across the screen. She chewed on her lip and Bucky thought he saw blood. Whatever she had going on, it was big. Big and stressful. A complimentary macchiato would do her good.

He worked his way through a dozen orders. Everyone needed a full three course dinner for lunch today. There were three people ahead of Jane when a man stormed up to the counter, demanding to know why his bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich was taking so long. Bucky managed to placate him without throwing a punch (which he deserved appreciation for, dammit). After that, the couple at the register spent five minutes arguing about what to order before deciding they weren’t hungry and walking out the door. The next person in line just wanted a brownie, and Bucky could’ve kissed him if Jane wasn’t literally right there.  


She stepped forward, smiling. Bucky smiled back. “Hey-”

“Barnes! Take out the trash.” Mr. Phillips marched out of the kitchen, his trademark ‘old war vet’ glare firmly in place.

“Yes sir,” Bucky said through his teeth. “I will when I’m finished taking her order.”

“I’ll do it. You just get the trash.” He all but pushed Bucky out of the way and switched to his ‘customer service’ glare. “Welcome to HC Bagels, how may I help you?”

Bucky reminded himself to spit in Phillips’ coffee later.

**

The fourth time, he had a plan.  


She was on a much shorter line. Just two people who were regulars and always got the same thing. Bucky wrote out their orders before they’d said a word and as they stepped to the side he took a fresh napkin off the pile. He wrote down his number--long hours cramming for finals had granted him the ability to write without looking--and put on his best ‘customer friendly but also romantically inclined’ smile. “Afternoon. Welcome to HC Bagels.”

“Hey Bucky,” she said, his name on her lips making his stomach flip-flop. “Just a decaf, please.”

“Are you sure?” He grabbed the tray with the daily special: mini chocolate chip cookie cakes with strawberry filling. Freshly baked and (almost) better than sex.

“Thanks, but I just ate breakfast,” she said, eyeing the cakes as he put them away. “It is tempting, though.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Bucky joked. He rang up her total and let her swipe her card. The cup was already on the counter. Trust Sam to be an overly efficient robot employee. Bucky took the napkin with his number, wrapped it blank side out around the warm decaf. “So I was thinking-”

Her phone rang. Jane looked at the screen and groaned. “Dammit. I’m sorry, I have to take this.”

She grabbed the coffee without looking, her fingers brushing it wrong twice before she got a decent grip. The napkin slipped out of her hand as she power walked out the door. It fell in a damp heap for Sam to sweep into the dustpan. He glanced at Bucky. “What?”

Bucky’s head dropped to the counter.

**

The fifth time, she was on a date.  


It wasn’t Dan, or whatever his name was. This guy was taller and lankier with ash blonde hair and green eyes. Not terrible looking, but not exactly a work of art either. Bucky made his rounds in the dining room, checking on the customers and definitely not looking anywhere near Jane’s table.  


They were talking about science. Made sense. Jane was a scientist. Bucky would bet he asked way better questions than Random Guy, assuming he wasn’t also an astrophysicist (if he was, Jane was probably smarter than him).  


He finished sweeping and wiping down tables and washing the windows and dusting the wall ornaments. When there was nothing left to do, he reluctantly returned to the counter. Nobody had come in while he was cleaning. Mr. Phillips would be skulking around looking for slackers (i.e. employees standing in one place for more than three seconds) to devour, so he checked the bagel trays and took inventory of the utensils. He turned around and there she was.

“Is there a back way out of here?”

Bucky stared at her. “Pardon?”

“I’m sorry, I just can’t take it anymore,” Jane rubbed her temples. “He does not understand one thing I’m saying, or one thing  _ he’s _ saying. Do you know what the Kettleman problem of gravitation is?”

“Uh… no?”

“Of course you don’t! Because it’s not a thing. At all.” A couple of families sitting close by were staring. “And yet he’s been bragging for over an hour about his dissertation and how brilliant he is and all the traveling abroad he does for his so-called research and UGH!”

She slammed her fist on the counter, and Bucky winced. Whatever the top was made of, it was one step below steel. He offered her a soda can from the freezer, which she wordlessly took and held against her swollen knuckles. “Okay look, I’m not supposed to do this, but we do have a back door for taking out the trash. So if you want to pretend you work here for thirty seconds...”

“Bucky, if you get me out of this, I will kiss you full on the mouth.”

If she only knew just what the promise meant to him, he prayed she’d still make it. He said nothing about it as he led her around the counter into the kitchen. They were short staffed- Steve and Sharon had both called in sick. Sam was in the kitchen with Monty. Mr. Phillips would be in his office going over the payroll. He got Jane through the supply room and past the pile of garbage bags without trouble.  


“You are home free,” he said, pushing the heavy door open. “You do have a way to get home, right?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” she sighed, stretching her neck. “I took my own car, thank god. When he comes out of the bathroom, tell him I had a family emergency or something. I’ll deal with the rest later.”

“No problem,” Bucky said. He wanted to say a lot more, but this was far from the right time. Maybe someday, she’d come in alone on a slow day when Mr. Phillips was on a long overdue vacation and nothing and no one was there to interrupt them. That day was not today, and so, he stood back and watched her drive away in a pickup truck of all things.  


Somehow, it was perfect for her.

**

The sixth time, he had just clocked out.  


Five hour shifts in the middle of the week were the bane of his existence. One of these days, when he was either a star athlete or a billionaire CEO, he’d buy the entire strip mall and bulldoze this stupid bakery to the ground. For now, he had three hours of classes tomorrow and five more pages to write before midnight if he wanted to stay on schedule. He poured an extra shot of espresso into his black coffee and started for the door.

He almost ran into Jane.

“Woah!” He held his coffee over his head so not to drip on her. “I’m sorry. Didn’t see you there.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” she said. “Thanks for not joking about my height at least.”

“I’d never do that,” Bucky said.

She smiled at him and… was she blushing? “I know. That’s why I… well, I’m glad I caught you before you left. I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go for dinner sometime.”

It was so casual, like she just wanted to know the time. Bucky blinked at her like a broken projector, feeling stupider by the second as he failed to find a single word to express his feelings.

“Yes,” he said finally. “I mean…. I do mean yes, but… but there is no but, I just…”

Jane giggled. “Sorry if that was too blunt. I’m not really a ‘hints’ kind of person. I prefer to be straightforward.”

“Works for me,” Bucky grinned. “How about this Friday? They have all you can eat wings at Carter’s Bar.”

“How can you say no to that?” She glanced around, like she was looking for someone. There were no customers nearby, no one at the register and no cars pulling in. Nodding to herself she took a deep breath, then placed her hands on his shoulders and her lips on his. The kiss was brief and chaste, but it ignited an inferno in Bucky’s chest. He leaned in as she pulled away and had to stop himself from grabbing her and returning the favor properly.

“What was that?” Bucky slurred, his head and the lobby spinning.  


She shrugged. “I said I’d do it and I always keep my promises.”

Together they walked through the parking lot, chatting about Friday and when to meet up. Bucky couldn’t stop smiling, but fortunately, neither could Jane. For all the time and headaches it had taken to get them to this point, it was well worth the wait. 


End file.
